Electrical circuits can be manufactured by printing traces with conductive inks on substrates of thin plastic. These circuits are flexible and fragile. In order to provide connections to these circuits to the outside world, it is desirable to attach a connector to the circuit. These connectors will allow communications through cables or other circuits and the like. Normal methods of terminating connectors, such as soldering, are not possible because the materiel will melt. Therefore, it is desirable to capture the circuit in such a way that the connector grips the circuit for retention and contacts the circuit in compression. Usually, pads are provided at the edge of the circuit for this purpose. These pads are usually fairly close to one another to provide a reasonable geometric density.
The lateral distances between the pads can be as small as 0.020 inches. This close proximity will not allow very high voltage to exist between the adjacent pads without current leakage or voltage breakdown to occur. Therefore, it is desirable to have a connector for printed flexible circuits that provides compression contacts with pads in close array and that will provide both voltage isolation and mechanical retention.